"House of Cards" was Netflix's first big bold bet on original shows. It outbid HBO to win the rights to the show.

It was no guarantee. Nothing in TV is. But, it worked out. "House of Cards" has been a smash hit. At the time Netflix won the rights to "House of Cards," its stock was at ~$246. It crashed a few months later, down to ~$58. Today it's at $436, thanks in part to the success of shows like "House of Cards."

In technology and media, there's this weird sensation of change happening really quickly, and really slowly at the same time. Netflix has been evolving for years, but the success of "House of Cards" feels very sudden. Three years ago, Netflix had very little original programming. Now it has a lineup that rivals HBO.

Netflix is an amazing, and disruptive company. It is really the first company to successfully do web-only TV programming. Just about every other company that tried before Netflix failed.

Not only did Netflix succeed, it has the leader of the free world tweeting about it.